The Advent of the Algorithm: The Idea that Rules the World

371 Pages·2000·22.57 MB·English

by  David Berlinski

THE
ADVENT
OE THE
ALGORITHM
T H E I D E A T H A T R U L E S T H E W O R L D
IVI'll’E I N S K
Author of the Bestselling I 0 Of I H «
*
T wo ideas lie gleaming on the jewelers vel­
vet. The first is the calculus, the second, the
algorithm.’' Thus begins David Berlinskis
new book. I’he calculus is the idea that made
modern science possible. The algorithm, which
Berlinski brilliantly limns here, is the idea of an
effective procedure that has made the modern world
possible.
Following his enormously successful A Tour of
the Calculus, The Advent of the Algorithm com­
pletes Berlinski s monumental task —explaining for
the genera] reader the ideas that have created our
world. And while calculus is a subject that has
intimidated generations of students, the algorithm
is a relatively new idea, virtually unknown except to
the computerati.
Now, for the millions of people whose lives are
regularly changed, enriched, and regulated by
computers, here is the story of the search for and
eventual discovery of the algorithm, the set of
instructions that drives computers. An idea as sim­
ple as the first recipe and as elusive as the quark or
the gluon, the algorithm was discovered by a suc­
cession of logicians and mathematicians working
alone and in obscurity during the first half of the
twentieth century. These men are the patriarchs of
computers, llieir story, so elegantly told, and their
discoveries, so clearly explained, make The Advent
of the Algorithm the book of Genesis for the com­
puter revolution. Leibniz, Godel, Hilbert, Turing,
some of these names you may be familiar with; but
after reading The Advent of the Algorithm, you will
know these men, understand their genius, and
appreciate the theoretical as well as the practical
greatness of the algorithm.
Advent
Algorithm
Also by David Berlinski
On Systems Analysis:
An Essay on the Limitations of
Some Mathematical Methods in
the Social, Political, and
Biological Sciences
Black Mischief:
Language, Life, Logic, & Luck
A Clean Sweep
Less than Meets the Eye
A Tour of the Calculus
The Body Shop
Advent
A » of the . »
Algorithm
THE I DEA THAT
RULES THE WORLD
David Berlinski
HARCOURT, INC.
New York
San Diego
London
Copyright © 2000 by David Berlinski
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work
should be mailed to the following address: Permissions Department,
Harcourt, Inc., 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
Note to the Reader This is a work of scholarship. The author has
woven storiesy involving imagined people and incidents into the texty
the better to enable the reader to enjoy the technical discussions. Or to
endure them. All of these inventions of the author begin and end with
the following symbol:
“The Idea of Order at Key West*’ from Collected Poems by Wallace
Stevens. Copyright 1936 by Wallace Stevens and renewed 1964 by
Holly Stevens. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Program box algorithms in chapter 12 from An Introduction to
Computer Simulation Methods; Applications to Plrysical Systemsy vol. 2
by Harvey Gould and Jan Tobochnik. Copyright 1988 by Addison
Wesley Longman Inc. Reprinted by permission.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Berlinski, David.
The advent of the algorithm: the idea that rules the world/
David Berlinski.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-15-100338-6
I. Algorithms. I. Title.
QA9.58.B47 1999
5ir.8—dc21 98-43755
Text set in Sabon
Printed in the United States of America
First edition
J I H G F E D C B A
Ä la memoire de mon ami
M. E Schützenberger
192U1996

A friend visited Dr. Johnson as he lay dying, and
seeing that he lacked for support, placed a pillow
beneath his head. “That will do,” Dr. Johnson said,
“all that a pillow can do.”